Changes

We spent the morning clearing away the tubs and other items that were on the patio and around the house because tomorrow work starts to lay a new path , remove the wall that still surrounds and separates  part of the front garden and  put a new surface on the car parking area . 

It has been almost a decade since we last did anything significant , perhaps because we have been so busy during that time.   But not only is there a need for change and renovation (we will paint the house early next year once the outside is completed)  but we are also at the stage where we are starting to at least plan for more easily managed surroundings.

Old houses like Feorlean go through constant mutations of course.  The picture above is of almost the same view as the one below.  It was taken fifty years ago , a decade before our access up the hill to the back of the house was opened up by the planting of a forestry plantation above the house (the same plantation which  was harvested two years ago).   

Feorlean was a working farm at that time and there was much less tree growth  probably because there were  still sheep on the hill.  Now you cannot see across to Ormidale  from this spot except in the depth of winter, when the leaves are down. 

We were also harvesting today, again.    We planted some blackthorn bushes a few years ago and today we got our first crop of sloes.  The extra photo shows what we obtained   - more than enough for some sloe gin .